The present invention relates generally to fishing techniques and in particular to fishing lures. More particularly, the invention provides a swimming frog lure and method, which can dive and swim like a live frog, according to a specific embodiment. Merely by way of example, the invention has been applied to a molded plastic soft fishing lure, but it would be recognized that other applications exist.
One of the greatest sporting activities known to mankind is fishing. Human beings involved in the activity of fishing are often called “fisherman” or “fisherwoman.” Fishing often involves using a bait, whether natural or artificial, which is attached to one or more hooks that are tied to a line from a fishing rod and reel. The bait is introduced into a lake, stream, or ocean to attract and lure a fish to strike it. Once the fish strikes, sharp hooks often hidden by the bait pierce into the tissue of the fish. Often times, the fish becomes hooked in the mouth. After a struggle between the fisherman and the fish, one of them wins. Either the fisherman happily lands the fish or the fish breaks itself from the hook and swims away. At one time, fishing was performed predominantly for survival purposes to catch and eat as food and enjoy for a meal. More recently, fisherman now participate in the act of fishing purely for the “sport” of catching the fish, which is often released back into the water after it has been caught. Sport fisherman often use artificial baits to entice and catch the fish.
In sport fishing, artificial bait is often called a lure, which is an object attached to the end of the fishing line. The artificial bait is often designed to resemble and move like an item of fish prey. See, http://en.wikipedia.org. Often times, the lure is equipped with one or more hooks that hold the fish attracted to the lure. Lures can be made using hard plastic, soft plastics, metal, wood, and any of their combinations. A wide variety of colors can also be used on the lures.
Many types of fishing lures exist. Lures often imitate smaller bait fish, snakes, ducks, crawfish, worms, and other small animals capable of attracting a larger predatory fish. An example of a fishing lure for large predatory fish such as black bass is an imitation frog lure, commonly called “frogs.” Imitation frog lures have been around for over 100 years. Many have been somewhat realistic in their static appearance. The frogs are made of realistic plastic material and painted to resemble real frogs. Although somewhat successful, conventional frog lures still have many limitations. One major drawback of conventional frog lures is that they do not seem to have a good imitation of the actual swimming movement of a frog in water.
That is, to provide movement in water, conventional frogs were made using mechanical contraptions such as hinged levers and sliding shafts in an attempt to approximate the kick of a frogs legs. Soft plastic moldings of actual frogs have flexible legs that extend somewhat when the frog is accelerated forward but the movement is limited. Additionally, conventional frogs become unstable and lead to rotation of the frog as it moves through the water. Accordingly, conventional frog lures, although they may look like real frogs, lack the movement of real live frogs.
In other conventional designs, frog lure manufacturers have given up on imitating a frog's actual movements. As an example, many of the popular conventional frogs have bodies similar to a frog shape and color, legs consisting of a multiple strands of thin rubber, which are designed to plane across surface vegetation. Of primary focus in the frog design is simple weedlessness capability. Although highly successful, conventional frogs still lack the ability to resemble movement of the real life frog. As noted, lure manufacturers have given up in some or all cases to come up with a lure design to imitate the frog's swimming action.
From the above, it is seen that improved techniques for lure designs are highly desired.